Tape former apparatus



Dec. 11, 1951 HARLEY 2,578,473

TAPE FORMER APPARATUS Filed Dec. 30,, 1949 Alfred hi Harley INVENTOR.

m W Mags Patented Dec. 11, 1951 TAPE FORMER APPARATUS Alfred H. Harley, Watertown, N. Y., assignor to Harley Machine Company, Inc., Watertown, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application December 30, 1949, Serial No. 136,095

4 Claims.

i This invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for applying a tape to the open end of a flexible receptacle in order to form a closure for the receptacle.

An object of this invention is to close the open end of a flexible receptacle, as a paper bag, while the bag is being conveyed on a conveyor by introducing tape in the line of travel of the bag through the medium of a tape former having a guide-way with a flared mouth, said former receiving tape which is fed substantially perpendicular to the direction of movement of the bag on the conveyor.

Another object of this invention is to materially lessen the space requirements in using a tape former in an apparatus of the kind to be described by specifically designing a former so that it will operate at a position intermediate the ends of the conveyor for the bag.

Ancillary objects and features will become apparent in following the descritpion of the illustration.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the apparatus of the invention showing a fragmentary part of a conveyor, the former disposed intermediate the ends of the conveyor and at one edge thereof, two paper bags, one prior to being received in the. former and the other after having partially passed the sewing machine, and a handling apparatus for the. tape prior to its introduction into the former;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view in section taken substantially along the line 2-2 of Figure l and in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the tape former.

In the field today, it is common to use a system for applying a flexible tape to the open end of a flexible receptacle as shown in Patent No. 1,901,062, and to use the former as shown at 4| in this patent. There are problems that arise in using this system and formers of this nature. Such a former cannot accommodate various and different widths of paper, there having to be a different former used when different width paper is employed. Moreover, since the former is disposed at one end of the conveyor, considerable space is necessary which can be obviated as a necessity by practicing the teachings of the present invention.

This device may be used for applying either plain or crepe tape to the ends of the multiwallpaper bags or flexible receptacles, usually used for cement, fertilizer and other articles. A

' conveyor I which moves a number of openended receptacles, as l2 and [4, respectively, in a horizontal path is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. This conveyor is of the chain it and roller 18 type, the roller being operative over the chain and the plane of the conveying surface being above the chain and below the roller. A number of these rollers are employed and two parallel chains are supplied, one of which is omitted from the drawings.

A sewing machine 20 having a needle 22 is mounted by means of a suitable support 24 alongside of the conveyor Hi. When the receptacles employed have two open ends, that is, the upper end and the lower end, two sewing machines are used, one on each side of the conveyor. If receptacles are used having only one open end, then only one sewing machine 28 is employed.

Reference to Figure 3 shows a former 28 consisting of an upper plate 3i! and a lower plate 32 held apart by a spacer 34 which is disposed along one edge of each plate and forms an end wall for the guideway 36. This guideway'is formed between the plates and is adapted to receive the open ends of the receptacles as well as the tape 38.

An arm 40 extends from the spacer 34 and is formed substantially in its center with a bolt receiving aperture 4 3. A shim 46 is disposed below the arm 4%. A suitable bolt 48 is passed through the aperture 44, holding it to a part of the support for the conveyor and at one edge of the conveyor.

A vertically disposed guide 50 is remote from the conveyor l0 and has the tape 38 entrained therearound in order to lead it toward the conveyor at right angles to the line of travel of the bags I2 and I4.

The forward or leading edge of the spacer 34 is smoothly curved in order to form a cam for the tape as it is led into the former passageway or guideway 36. The upper edge portion 54 of the plate 30 is curved upwardly from the horizontal. The lower edge portion 55 of the plate 32 is curved downwardly from the horizontal in order to form a mouth for the tape and the open ends of the bags [2 and I4.

Operation The receptacles l2 and I4 are conveyed on the conveying surface of said conveyor Ill. The conveyor bed is substantially horizontal and the former plate 32 is disposed below the plane of the conveying surface. The former pate 3B is disposed above the plane of the conveying surface.

The tape 38 is first passed over devices or a device for applying glue to one surface thereof. Then, the tape 38 is led around the vertical guide 50 and led toward the conveyor at right angles to the line of travel or movement of the receptacles l2 and I4. As the front edge of the receptacle l2 passes through the mouth of the former, the tape 38 is moved therewith. Due to the described shape of the former with its guideway, it is not necessary that the former be at exactly right angles to the line of travel of the conveyor. it is only necessary that the former be roughly in alignment.

After the receptacle or bag 12 moves slightly further, the sewing machine, through its needle 22 and other mechanism, stitches the tape which has been folded or creased longitudinally by passage through the passageway At this time, the conveyor ID has already urged the receptacle l4 partially into the mouth of the former so that sewing operations may be performed thereon in a similar manner.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an apparatus for applying a tape to the open end or a flexible recepta le to form a closure for the receptacle, said apparatus including a conveyor for the receptacles and at least one sewing machine for sewing the open end of the receptacle: a tape former mounted in advance of the sewing machine needle and intermediate the ends of the conveyor and comprising a pair of plates with means forming an end wall and disposed between said plates for holding said plates spaced from each other to thereby form a passageway with three open sides, one of said plates being arranged below the plane of the conveying surface of said conveyor and the other plate above said surface to receive the open ends of the receptacles in the line of travel thereof prior to reaching the discharge end of the conveyor.

2. In an apparatus for applying a tape to the open end or a iiexiole receptacle to form a closure for the receptacle, said apparatus including a conveyor for the receptacles and at least one sewing machine for sewing the open end of the receptacle: a tape former mounted in advance the sewing l.i.ELCl.;l116 needle and intermediate the ends of the conveyor and comprising a pair of plates with means forming an end wall and disposed between said plates for holding said plates spaced from each other to thereby form a passageway with three open sides, one of said plates being arranged below the plane of the conveying surface of said conveyor and the other plate above said surface to receive the open ends of the receptacles in the line of travel thereof prior to reaching the dis-charge end of the conveyor, said plates each being substantially rectangular and each having a corner which is smoothly curved from a horizontal plane to form a flared mouth for receiving the tape and the open en s of the receptacles while they are conveyed.

5. In an apparatus for applying tape to the open end of a bag, a conveyor having a longitudinal axis and adapted to convey the bag in a direction parallel thereto, means for directing the tape in a folded condition against the open end of the bag and from a direction perpendicular to said axis including a tape guide mounted remote from the conveyor, and a tape former mounted at one side of said conveyor, said former including an upper and lower plate with a spacer therebetween and along one edge of each plate to thereby form a guideway with an open front, rear and one open side, said upper plate having an upwardly curved portion along its front edge and remote from said spacer, and said lower plate having a downwardly curved portion along its front edge and remote from said spacer, and said portions cooperating to form a mouth for the bag and the tape.

4. The combination of claim 3 and the forward end of said spacer being smoothly curved to form a cam for the tape as it passes into said guideway.

ALFRED H. HARLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,438,293 Brown Dec. 12, 1922 1,575,453 Shutzer Mar. 2, 1926 1,95,941 Harrison Oct. 9, 1934 2,199,005 Marsh Apr. 30, 1940 2,3622%,462 Belcher et a1 Nov. 14, 1944 

